Seventy-Five...the magic number

On Wednesday, the forecast said "a high of 68 degrees and sunny" for Seattle. So, I immediately started planning for Saturday, excited enough that a little pee almost came out.

This morning, Ashley, Melissa and I headed for Alki Bakery for the AH-mazing cinnamon rolls and breakfast croissant sandwiches. After breakfast, we took a long walk down Alki Beach. I was wearing a t-shirt and light jacket.

The warm weather brought out a fascinating sense of community. People came out of the woodwork...and dogs. It reminded me of my first three weeks in Seattle last September. Everyone was giddy and joyful, smiling & laughing with strangers while their dogs sniffed each other. The dogs were also giddy and joyful.

They say (whoever "they" is) that Seattleites prefer having dogs to children, and today it was evident this is true. There were definitely kids, but way more dogs. Every family with kids had at least one dog, but every family with a dog did not have kids. We met a basset hound named Henrietta whose ears dragged the ground. When we stopped petting her, she started howling so loud people down Alki could hear her. Poor Henrietta.

I spent the afternoon tooling around downtown with Josephine. By this time, I was just wearing a t-shirt...I mean, pants too, but no light jacket. The thermometer on a bank read 75 degrees. Mecca. Pike Place was packed out. More dogs. People settling in droves outside the Starbucks stores that can be found with every 30 second walk with, not coffees or lattes, but frappucinos.

We ended the day at Greenlake. People were playing soccer, volleyball, basketball, and football. Men with no shirts on (but thankfully, shorts). Women in bikini tops and shorts. Again, more dogs than children. I rolled my pants' legs up (oh-so-sexy) and we laid out on the grassy lawn with Baskin-Robbins ice cream cones.

Seventy-five degrees.